Art Journal Pages

Pages from my art journaling journey...

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) My heart is surrounded...  2) I want to... but I don't know how...  3) The secret tool in my toolbox is...  4) It is time for me to...)

 

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) I am concocting a magic potion... 2) I am standing on... 

3) A little bird is sing to me...  4) I see art in...)

 

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) I will gift myself with...  2) I am holding out my hand to receive...  3) It feels daunting when I think about  4) Peaceful moment)

 

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) I am choosing to honor...  2) Focus, flow  3) I have emptied myself of...  4) The ghosts haunting me are...)

 

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) When I cannot... I feel so...  2) I haven always wanted to...  3) I wish I could be like...  4) My war color paint of choice is...)

 

(Prompts from left to right, clockwise:  1) I feel in pieces when...  2) To stay afloat I will... 

3) I will bubble over....  3) I can gift myself with...)

 

 

(From left to right, clockwise:  1, 2, 4) "You must enter the grays and blues," a quote from a book I read by Natalie Goldberg  3) I want to open the door marked...)

 

 

The art journaling journey has been therapeutic and although I haven't created pages in a while, I plan to continue to do it.  It has brought another layer and element into my journaling process, a process that has much meaning to me as I have been journaling avidly since I was a teenager.  Seeing my pages here helps me to see all that I've learned through the art journaling I have done thus far.  I appreciate all of this.

 

~Brianne

Art Journaling

 

This year has been a year of reawakening for me. 

It started with reading The Artist's Way, and continued with going on photography outings, sculpting words and pendants from wire, and making collages from magazine cutouts.  Creating my blog, this offering here, has opened me up to thinking and seeing in new creative ways.  Another part of this journey has been art journaling which, as an avid journaler, was exciting for me to discover and begin to do.

 

When I won a subscription to The Art Journaler service one day, I was delighted.  Even more so when I received what you see in the following photographs in the mail!

 



I believe that the process of art is powerful.  It opens us up to what lies beneath the surface, and we are able to create meaningful, beautiful creations.  Art changes us, changes our thinking, our perception, and the way we see.  Journaling through art can help you work through what your life is facing in ways that go beyond words.  You can write yourself secret messages, truths that you will hold dear.  There are no rules, which I love. 

The Art Journaler community is a great one to be part of.  You can share your pages with others and see what others have created.  I will post some of my pages here on a next post.  It was fun to receive all these delightful goodies in the mail from the subscription service.  Imagine, as an adult, how fun it is to receive stars, words, hearts, puzzle pieces and such in the mail, in colorfully decorated envelopes, when usually there's no more than bills and junk!?  I think anyone of any age would benefit from art journaling, and can imagine this would have been a great practice to have known as a teenager, too.  Never too late, never too soon!

Peters Valley

Across the Delaware, a right turn beyond the bridge,

is a special place that is closer to my home

than the grocery store is.

 

Peters Valley Craft Center

 

 

I made the page above in my Freedom Journal,

using words and pictures from an outdated workshop schedule I'd had in my collage collection.

Looking back on it now, I realize that making the page fueled my desire to take a class there, made me see that I really needed to do it as something to take care of me.

 

 

It is to the left of the page that reminds me

"you are free to soul nurture."

So, soul nurture I did.

 

 

Tomorrow, I will write a post about the workshop I took.



Tremendously Free

 

Imagine:

not just free,

as if that is not enough,

but TREMENDOUSLY free.

What a word.

 

That is what I read recently in a book I've had on my shelf for years, and wanted to finally trade to get some more credits on Paperbackswap.  I thumbed through it before posting, because I saw someone had it as a wish reserve, meaning it'd be requested right away.  So glad I did that because what words.  (The book is Addicted to Mediocrity: 20th Century Christians and the Arts, by Frankie Schaeffer)

 

I found what I needed to find:

 

On page 39:  "Creativity, human worth, the arts, cultural endeavor, the media, communication, enjoyment of beauty and creativity in others, enjoyment of our own creativity... God's creativity - all of these need no justification... This, like so much of biblical teaching, brings tremendous freedom - not guilty, backward looking fear, but freedom. Freedom that is brought through Christ's redemption, to go fuller, to go deeper, to go broader, to enjoy more - not to go narrower and narrower into an ever-shrinking hyped up gloomy little world of spiritual experience."

 

"You are tremendously free, you are the most free, for you have form on which to build your freedom, you know who you are... you know that you and your talent will live forever." (p.60)

"May we have the courage to reject and abandon the mediocrity of the church today and stand alone if need be...  May our Christianity be a freeing experience, not an ideological burden.  May we experience a freedom from guilt feelings, a willingness to take risks, make mistakes, but above all to live the life God has given us..." (p.65)

To this I can say hallelujah.

Freedom List

On two pages in the back of my Freedom Journal,

I am keeping lists of what I am "free from"

and what I am "free to"

"free fom condemnation * free from guilt * free from shame * free from blame * free from chains * free to forgive * free to smile * free from perfection * free from expectation * free from anger * free from dread * free to come to my own conclusions * free to explore * free to think * free from reacting * free to respond * free to sing * free from judgment"



"free to be me * free to wonder * free to think * free to imagine * free to worship * free from worry * free from the law of sin and death * free to have fun * free to enjoy * free to be at peace * free to be confident * free from the standards of man * free to let go * free to release * free to surrender * free to breathe * free to believe * free to share my stories"

I use INSPIRATIONS - my glitter pens and colorful fine tip markers - to write my lists.  We are halfway through the year, and my lists are about halfway through their pages.

There is a lot more that will be added as I continue this journey with Freedom. 

What would you add to these lists?



Louise Nevelson - Journal Pages

These are pages that appear in my Freedom Journal.

Next to the page with the Freedom Heart and freedom messages, is the page on the right with a picture of a Louise Nevelson sculpture, words cut out from a magazine article about Nevelson's work, and thoughts behind it, and the words to Job 28:5-6.

"They promised that the streets of America

would be paved in gold."

 

The next two pages:

on the left is a picture of an Untitled sculpture

that we saw at the Locks Gallery,

and a list of possible locations for me to see more of Nevelson's work in person.

On the right are found quotes of Louise Nevelson's,

that speak freedom to me.

"Leave your brain outside, sweetie," Nevelson would tell her art students, "so when you see something, you see it totally."

"I take my mind out and put it on the table.  I take silver polish or whatever and rags and sponges and clean it up and clear it up and keep it shiny."

 

"The shadow is as important as the object."

"The wonder of collecting is that you are constantly in trainint to look for that added element that you identify with."

"I have made my world and it is a much better world than I ever saw outside."

"An artist has to live like an artist, and then you are an artist."

Freedom Heart

From a page in my Freedom Journal.

Liked with Clytie's



Loose Ends

This is an oil pastel drawing I did on 5/22/12, titled "The Ends of Things".  On the back of the drawing I wrote, "it's come to a point where the ends of things are swirling around in me - The end of our dear cousin's life was out of my control.  But some of these ends are in my control & the end means the beginning of something new.  I need to see these things through.  The designs...  The project... My books... They swirl & I'm dizzy, I need to tie up the loose pieces.  Yes, this is what I need to determine myself to do."

Yesterday afternoon I wrote in my journal of pages, "I want easy but I also want my dreams.  Hanging in the balance - that's me, it seems.  So used to being unfinished.  Telling myself it doesn't matter anyway.  Who cares because in the end Jesus will still love me.  But I know I need to push through and that small seed encourages me with the promise that one day - one day I will see clearly that it was worth it when there's something to show for it and I'll be able to say to myself 'well done' instead of just wonder what could be."

~Brianne

Linking up here with:  Random Journal Day - a lovely community of journalers,



& sharing my art journal page with The Art Journalers on Flickr.

Gift Counting

I started to count gifts in this beautiful, small journal about a year and a half ago, after reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.  I'd followed Ann's blog for a while, reading her gorgeously pieced words that eloquently reflect her innermost thoughts on life and faith.  I'd wanted to see life differently, and wanted to see if I, too, could be changed by giving thanks.  So I started listing and I can attest that things started changing.  In the process of giving thanks for what is, something happens.  There is a transformation that occurs when thanks is lifted up and given.  It is not always easy to do, this thanksgiving, but the results are worth it. 

The journey has been a tilling of the soil, of watering dry land, of breaking the whole into bits and pieces that gleam light through fragmentation.  As I look back at my list, the numbered thanks, I remember many good things.  This is an enjoyable practice, one that is worth keeping - there is no stopping once it has been started.

It is helpful to keep my journal here on the counter, in one of my spaces, easily accessible and visible.  Today I celebrate reaching #1,000 - serving the God who overlooks my sin and keeps my tears bottled - and going beyond as I continue counting. 

Here I recall insights shared by my son last year, in which he and I pondered on the miracle of Jesus' breaking the fishes and loaves into so many pieces,
and he sat there, my thoughtful son,wondering how this could have happened, insisting that "Something must have happened when Jesus broke the bread and the fish!? Maybe He was able to pull more out of the pieces He broke!?" -  and I've experienced this occurrence while performing Eucharisteo: breaking moments into words in which we express our thanks to God for all the goodness He's given.  One thing becomes more things, because He multiplies our moments into more than what they are on the surface. In one thing, there are more things. Everything, more than it appears to me. It is a fulfilling way to experience life, it is a new way to see.

As I experience this for myself, listing thankfulness - I live it,  I learn it, through experience.  I highly recommend the gift counting.  It is not always easy to do.  I do not always feel like it.  I go days and weeks listing nothing.  But I made it to the #1,000 and surpassed it and it is a landmark and it is worth celebrating, and I plan to continue counting.

Words

page from Red Panda Journal, circa 1997  ;-)

I love words and I love journaling.

What I wrote about 15 years ago in a journal,

shown above, still holds true for me.

Words take me to unimaginable places,

opening my mind to new realities, as I follow.

I'm excited because next month,
I'll be leading two sessions of Creative Journaling

at a nearby Women's Wellness Weekend.

I look forward to sharing all the possibilities

that journaling creates within my life

and motivating others to use the tool

of word wielding to their creative advantage.

two new journals purchased recently, at less than $20 for both of them,

from a bookstore that was closing.

I write a lot, and some of the journals I use

are marble composition notebooks

and inexpesive spiral bound notebooks

that cost less than $1 each,

and often can be found at 3 for $1,

especially when it is back-to-school time.

When I see a good deal though,

I will splurge,

and the journals pictured above,

are splurges, found at a good deal.

The one with the orchids on it says

"All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today"

 and serves as a reminder of why I'm "today-ing" it.

I haven't yet written in this one.

The one with the butterflies and trees on it 

is one I'm using to collect tidbits of thoughts in. 

I leave a purple gel pen attached to it to write with. 

I love how the gel ink does not dry quickly,

so the pages are filled with smudges. 

Do you have journals to write in? 

Can you use inexpensive notebooks to get yourself started?

If you have the desire, I hope to motivate you to start writing stuff down, and want to hear about your successes!

This post is linked up with the community at Random Journal Day.

Check it out!!

Farther

The only place to go is farther...

and I'm going.

Are you?

Page from Red Panda Journal, rediscovered during journal redemption process.

: Redemption Song :

The music of Bob Marley was a big part of my life for the large part of my teenage and young adult years.  Posters of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix covered the wall of my side of the dorm room during my first year of college.  Both musician's faces adorned the back window of my maroon Pontiac Grand Am, Tai, on decals. 

Yes, the spirit of Bob Marley's rhythm and lyrics was with me for many a day, and remains in my mind, words of songs popping up from time to time, when I most need them.  As Bob Marley himself sang, "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain...  so hit me with music, hit me with music."

Redemption Song is the first song of freedom to be included in my Freedom Journal.  I printed the lyrics, cut them out, and collaged them onto a couple of pages.  They fit with the pictures of a large envelope decorated with buffalos and tepees, from an Indian school that used to mail us fund requests, years ago. 

Freedom and redemption are my current heart songs, for the depths of my soul, for all the broken pieces.  Paying tribute to Bob Marley for the work of his hands through his music, his songs, his words - all he offered to us in this world during his lifetime, impacting generations - brings me hope that I will sing songs of freedom, release myself from mental slavery, free my mind, and be redeemed, by the hand of the Almighty.

Freedom Journal

Some great ideas of what can be done

with a word-pursuit

were shared on a superb blog

that inspires me:  Messy Canvas.

Being an avid journaler

and art collager,

I immediately connected

with the idea of creating a journal

just for my word.

So here it is, a redeemed journal,

turned into a place

for FREEDOM.

This journal, I've had it for over a decade.

My aunt gave it to me as a gift,

and I'd written Bible verses in it

that I wanted to memorize

or create drawings to go with.

I was stunted by what I had

relegated as its purpose,

and left it unused for years...

I'm sorry, Zen Sketchbook journal,

it wasn't your fault...

But you're redeemed now,

for a new purpose,

for the pursuit of freedom,

and you're getting redecorated,

a facelift,

and I'm having fun filling your pages!

And I can't wait to show you

what some of these pages

are filled with!